GB1576199A - Apparatus for fixing metal clamp bands - Google Patents

Description

PATENT SPECIFICATION

( 21) Application No 11471/78 ( 22) Filed 22 Mar 1978 ( 31) Convention Application No's 52/004690 ( 32) Filed 25 Mar 1977 52/053830 10 May 1977 in ( 33) Japan (JP) ( 44) Complete Specification Published 1 Oct 1980 ( 51) INT CL 3 ( 52) B 21 D 35/00 Index at Acceptance B 3 E 1 OG 14 C l EX 1 G 2 1 Y AJ ( 54) APPARATUS FOR FIXING METAL CLAMP BANDS ( 71) We, NTN Toyo Bearing Company Limited, a Japanese Company of No 3-17, 1-chome, Kyomachibori, Nishi-ku, Osakashi, Osaka-fu, Japan do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement:BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for fixing metal clamp bands which are used to clamp various seals and hoses.

(b) Objects of the Invention An object of the present invention is to automate the fixing of metal clamp bands decribed in U S Patent No 3,797,077, to achieve increased efficiency of operation, uniform tightening force and labour-saving.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A clamp band A to which the present invention is applied is constructed in a manner shown in Figure 1 It is used in various places and in various ways The clamp band A is formed by overlapping the ends of a band-like metal member 1 and welding a relatively rigid closure tag 2 to the overlap The metal member 1 has a pair of locking tabs 3 provided on the opposite sides thereof for fixedly securing the tag 2.

Figure 2 illustrates a uniform velocity ball joint comprising end members 4 connected together by a small-diameter shaft 5, protective rubber boots 6 mounted over the connections, and clamp bands A clamping said rubber boots 6 securely in position The conventional method of clamping using clamp bands A will now be described with reference to Figure 3 First, as shown in Figure 3 a, the tag 2 of each clamp band A is tilted toward the locking tabs 3, either manually or by holding-down device utilizing the forward movement of a piston-incylinder actuator, and then the locking tabs 3 are hammered so that they are bent to cover the tag 2, thereby fixedly securing the latter The clamping force of the clamp band A in this case is obtained by the fact that the tilting of the tag 2 causes the end la of the metal member 1 to be drawn in a counterclockwise direction on the principle of the lever with the base 2 a of the tag 2 serving as a fulcrum.

With such a method, however, since the bending of the locking tabs 3 is effected manually, uniform and satisfactory bending and covering cannot be attained Further, there is the danger of the boots 6, members 4 and/or connecting shaft 5 being damaged with a hammer during the bending operation Since manual operation is involved, mass production is impossible.

In this connection, it is to be understood that the term bending as used herein principally means the bending of the locking tabs and the term covering means completing said bending.

According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for fixing on an elongate object to be clamped a metal clamp band having a closure tag and locking tab members for said tag, the apparatus comprising a tag tilting mechanism comprising a rotatably mounted shaft member extending parallel with the axis of said object, an arm member fixed on said shaft member and serving to tilt the tag, and means for rotating said shaft member, and a locking tab bending mechanism comprising first piston-incylinder actuator means installed radially of said object and serving to bend the locking tabs over the tilted tag, and second pistonin-cylinder actuator means for pressing the thus bent locking tabs by the front ends of closed jaws so as to completely cover the tag with the locking tab members.

( 11) 1 576 199 19) 0 \ rs \z C_ tn rsi 1 576 199 Thus the operation of aligning the nonclamped metal clamp bands mounted on the object to bring them into a predetermined bending position prior to bending operation, the operation of tilting the upright tags, and the operation of completely covering the tilted tags with the locking tabs are automatically carried out by a series of mechanisms Therefore, the invention, if applied to mass production of uniform velocity ball joints used in automobiles, greatly increases the efficiency of operation.

Further, the clamping forces of the metal clamp bands can be made uniform, and damage to protective boots due to excessive clamping force can be avoided Since the object is supported at its opposite ends, even if the object is a uniform velocity ball joint capable of axial plunging movement, the fixing of the clamp band is possible by permitting the ball joint to move axially into the mid-position Further, the simultaneous clamping of a plurality of axially spaced metal clamp bands mounted on the object is possible Further, the apparatus of the invention achieves labour saving in the metal clamp band fixing operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAW-

INGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of a metal clamp band; Figure 2 illustrates an application of metal clamp bands; Figures 3 a and 3 b show a condition in which metal clamp bands are mounted on rubber boots and closure tags are pushed into between locking tabs and a second condition in which the tags are fixed in position by the locking tabs; Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the principal portion of a metal clamp band fixing apparatus according to the invention; Figure 5 is a side view of a locking tab positioning mechanism; Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of a locking tab bending mechanism; Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the shape of the front end of jaws in the bending mechanism; Figure 8 shows how the locking tabs are positioned by metal heads; and Figure 9 through 11 show the movement of the front ends of the jaws in a series of bending steps.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS An apparatus for clamping rubber boots according to the invention, as shown in Figure 4, comprises a support mechanism D for rotatably supporting the opposite ends of an elongate object to be clamped, which has non-clamped metal bands mounted thereon, a locking tab positioning mechanism E, a mechanism B for tilting tags 2, and a mechanism C for bending locking tabs 3.

The support mechanism D, as shown in Figure 4, comprises a support block or anvil 17 for supporting the intermediate shaft member 5 of a uniform velocity ball joint, and positioning plates 18 for rotatably holding and axially positioning the object placed on said block The block 17 has a V-groove 17 a for effecting radial positioning The positioning plates 18 are adapted to be axially advanced and retracted by air cylinders 19 Thus, the said object is placed in the V-groove of the block and positioned by the positioning plates at the opposite ends, thereby controlling the relative positional relation between the various mechanism to be presently described and the object.

The locking tab positioning mechanism E, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, comprises a shaft member 57 disposed in front of the frame to extend parallel with the axis of the object 8 and supported at its opposite ends by linkages 55 and 56 comprising links 49, 50, 51 and 52, 53, 54 and a plurality of lever members 62, 63, 64 and 65 fixed at their bases on the shaft member 57 and having metal heads 58, 59, 60 and 61 fixed to the front ends thereof The lever members are fixed on the shaft member 57 at positions opposed to the metal clamp bands mounted on the object, while the metal heads fixed to the front ends of the lever members extend to positions above the top surfaces of the metal clamp members where they abut against the locking tabs The shaft member has a handle member 66 provided between the ends thereof The shaft member is operated by the handle to be moved between a lever raised position shown in solid lines and a lever tilted position shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 5 The raised position is determined by the abutment of the links 50 and 53 against first stop members 74 and 67 installed on the frame, while the tilted position is determined by the abutment of the links 49 and 52 against second stop members 68 and 69 installed on the frame The linkages are acted upon by springs 70 and 71 whereby the lever members are stabilized in the lever raised and tilted positions The numberals 72 and 73 designate balance weights provided on the ends of the links 50 and 53 for ensuring smooth operation of the handle.

In the above arrangement, the handle is operated to its upper position, and with the lever members raised the front metal head ends 58 a, 59 a, 60 a and 61 a effect the positional control of the associated locking tabs.

The tag tilting mechanism B, as shown in Figure 4, has shafts 9 and 10 disposed above a surface plate and extending parallel with the axis of the workpiece 8 The shafts 9 and 31 576 199 have brackets and arms 12 and 13 fixed thereon, said arms 12 and 13 being opposed to the axially spaced clamp bands A on the workpiece 8 Each bracket 11 has the piston rod 15 of an air cylinder (not shown) attached thereto The arm 12 comprises a bifurcated bracket 12 a and an arm 12 b which is pivotally connected to the bifurcation 12 c of the bracket 12 a and which has a spring 16 connected to the other end thereof, so that the arm 12 b is pulled toward the bracket 12 a at all times.

The mechanism C for bending the locking tabs 3 will now be described This mechanism C comprises two axially spaced like units radially opposed to the workpiece 8.

Figure 6 shows one of said units In Figure 6, the numeral 20 designates a tool for bending a clamp band A which is mounted on the small diameter portion while 21 designates a tool for bending a clamp band mounted on the large diameter portion, said two tools being similarly constructed The numeral 22 designates a main body The numerals 23 and 24 designate pistons coaxially installed in the main body 22 The piston 23 is a double acting piston in which the hydraulic pressure (or air pressure) act on each side of the piston alternately, while the piston 24 is a single acting piston in which it acts on only one side of the piston.

The single acting piston 24 has a central through-hole 25 and two opposed jaws 26 and 27 attached to the front end thereof.

The jaws 26 and 27 are pivoted to a single acting piston 24 substantially intermediate between the ends thereof, and a spring 28 is attached to them to normally urge their front ends 26 a and 27 a away from each other The front jaw ends 26 a and 27 a are formed with arcuate portions 26 b and 27 b which conform to the shape (or outer periphery) of the associated clamp band when the jaws 26 and 27 are closed, as shown in Figure 7.

The double acting piston 23 has a shaft 30 provided with a step (or a different diameter portion) 29, said shaft 30 being inserted in the through-hole 25 of the single acting piston 24 A clearance 32 providing a stroke L is defined between the step 29 and the head 31 of the single acting piston 24 in the normal state (i e, the state shown in Figure 6) so that the step 29 may abut against the head 31 in the course of the downward movement of the double acting piston 23.

The numeral 33 designates a floating member comprising a shaft 34 and a cone 35, said shaft 34 being inserted in said through-hole 25, said cone 35 having an inverted frustoconical taper slide surface 36 which acts between the jaws 26 and 27 The numeral 37 designates a stop member for the single acting piston 24 Thus, the stroke of the single acting piston 24 is set at 1 which corresponds to a clearance 38 between the two members 24 and 37 The numeral 39 designates an upper hydraulic pressure chamber for the double acting piston 23; 40 designates a lower hydraulic pressure chamber therefor; and 41 designates a lower hydraulic pressure chamber for the single acting piston 24.

The way the fixing apparatus constructed in the manner described above operates will now be described.

First of all, the workpiece 8 assembled in the preceding step is placed on the block 17 and clamp bands A are then mounted on the rubber boots 6 The tags 2 are then slightly tilted to bring the bands A into the semilocked state In order to properly position the clamp bands A relative to the mechanisms E, B and C, one or both of the air cylinders 19 of the mechanism D are actuated according to circumstances, thereby holding the workpiece 8 between the holder plates 18 to effect the axial positioning.

When the positioning between the workpiece 8 and the mechanisms E, B, C has thus been completed, the metal heads 58, 59, 60 and 61 of the mechanism E are then brought to the solid line position in Figures 4 and 5, whereupon the workpiece 8 is rotated in the direction of arror a to bring the locking tabs 3 of the bands A into abutment against the front ends of the metal heads, as shown in Figure 8 Since the bands are not so tightly fitted on the workpiece, after the locking tabs abut against the metal heads, the bands are held stationary while the workpiece alone is rotated In addition, if the locking tabs happen to be located in the path of movement of the metal heads, the latter will come into contact with the locking tabs in the course of travel of the metal heads to the control position, thus bringing the locking tabs to the control position while rotating them on the workpiece When all the locking tabs come into line in the manner described above, the handle is again operated to retract the metal heads Subsequently the mechanism B for holding down the tags 2 is actuated, causing the actuator cylinders to extend the piston rods 15 to turn the shafts 9 and 10 through the brackets 11.

As a result, the arms fixed on the shafts 9 and 10 are rotated, depressing the tags 2 of the clamp bands A with their front ends 12 d and 13 a In addition, the amounts of rotation of the arms 12 and 13 are the same and some of the clamps bands A are mounted on the small diameter portions of the workpiece 8 and the others on the large diameter portions Therefore, the distances the arms 12 and 13 have to travel to reach the associated clamp bands are different Under these circumstances, when the arms 12 depress the tags 2 of the clamp bands A mounted on the small diameter portions, if 1 576 199 the operation of the actuator cylinders is stopped and the rotation of the arms 12 and 13 is stopped, then there arises a problem that the arms 13 associated with the clamp bands A mounted on the small diameter portions cannot depress the tags 2 With this problem in mind the amount of movement of the actuator cylinders is detected as by a photodetector (not shown) when the arms 13 associated with the clamp bands A on the small diameter portions have depressed the tags 2, thereby stopping the cylinders In the arms 12 associated with the clamp bands A on the large diameter portions, after the tags 2 have been depressed, each bracket 12 a alone is rotated against the force of the spring 16 In addition, the arms depress the bases of the tags 2, so as not to interfere with the bending operation on the locking tabs 3 in the subsequent step.

After the holding-down mechanism B has depressed the tags 2 in this manner, this condition is maintained and the bending mechanism C for the locking tabs 3 is then actuated The bending mechanism C starts to descend by means of a lifting cylinder (not shown) installed in the main body 22 until a condition is established in which the locking tabs 3 are disposed between the jaws 26 and 27, as shown in Figure 9 In the condition shown in Figure 9, the double and single acting pistons 23 and 24 have been raised with control hydraulic pressure supplied to the lower hydraulic pressure chambers 40 and 41 and the taper slide surface 36 of the floating member 33 is under tension exerted by the spring 28 through the jaws 26 and 27 Therefore, the floating member 33 has been pushed up, with its shaft 34 against the shaft 30 of the double acting piston 23.

The bending mechanism C detects the above condition and starts bending operation of the locking tabs 3 More specifically, the lower hydraulic pressure chamber 40 of the double acting piston 23 is caused to communicate with an oil discharge port (not shown), while control hydraulic pressure is supplied to the upper hydraulic pressure chamber 39, whereupon the double acting piston 23 starls to descend under the hydraulic pressure in the upper hydraulic chamber 39, with its shaft 30 sliding down along the wall of the through-hole 25 of the single acting piston 24 to lower the shaft 34 of the foll Awing member 33 As a result, the taper slide surface 38 of the floating member 33 wedges between the jaws 26 and 27, thus outwardly moving the upper ends of the jaws 26 and 27 away from each other The jaws 26 and 27 are turned around their respective pivots 26 c and 27 c, with their front ends 26 a and 27 a moving inwardly toward each other The step 29 on the double acting piston 23 comes to abut against the head 31 of the single acting piston 24 and stops The downward movement of the double acting piston 23 through the stroke L establishes the locking tab folding condition of the front jaw ends 26 a and 27 a, as shown in Figure 10 The aforesaid turning of the front jaw ends 26 a and 27 a results in the locking tabs 3 of the clamp bands A being slightly inwardly bent, and at the end of the turning, the front jaw ends are positioned on upper ends of the bent locking tabs 3.

The hydraulic pressure chamber 41 of the single acting piston 24 is then caused to communicate with the discharge port, whereupon the single acting piston 24 starts to decend together with the double acting piston 23 under the hydraulic pressure in the upper hydraulic pressure chamber 39 of the double acting piston 23 until it abuts against the stop member 37 This is the downward movement of the single acting piston 24 through the stroke 1 Thereby, the arcuate portions (lower ends) 26 b, 27 b of the jaws 26 and 27 press the locking tabs 3 flat so as to completely cover the tags 2, as shown in Figure 11 In brief, the stroke of the double acting piston 23 is the sum of the stokes L and 1, and the stoke L provides the turning of the jaws 26 and 27 for the initial bending of the locking tabs while the stroke 1 serves for the pressing of the locking tabs 3.

When the bending operation on the locking tabs 3 by the bending mechanism C is thus completed, it is necessary to cause the return movement of the bending mechanism C and the tag holding-down mechanism B. The return movement is started with the bending mechanism C While hydraulic pressure is supplied to the hydraulic pressure chamber 41 of the single acting piston 24, the upper hydraulic pressure chamber 39 of the double acting piston 23 is caused to communicate with the oil discharge port and hydraulic pressure is supplied to the lower hydraulic pressure chamber 40 of the double acting piston 23 The double acting piston 23 is upwardly moved to return by the control hydraulic pressure in the lower hydraulic pressure chamber 40 This return movement of the double acting piston 23 removes the depressing force from the floating member 33 As a result, the only force acting on the floating member 33 is the resilient force of the spring 28 pulling the jaws 26 and 27, so that under the action of the taper slide surface 38, the floating member 33 follows the shaft 30 of the double acting piston 23.

The upward movement of the floating member 33 permits the resilient force of the spring 28 to turn the jaws 26 and 28 around the pivots 26 c and 27 c to outwardly move the front jaws ends 26 a and 27 a away from each other, thereby returning the jaws 26 and 27 Thereafter, the lifting cylinder is returned to raise the bending mechanism C.

1 576 199 Subsequently, the tab holding-down mechanism B is returned This is effected by simply causing the retraction of the actuator cylinders whereby the arms 12 and 13 fixed on the shafts 9 and 10 are rotated through the brackets 11.

Finally, the mechanism D is returned and the finished article is taken out.

Whilst there have been described herein what are at present considered preferred embodiments of the several features of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications and changes may be made without departing from the essence of the invention.

It is therefore to be understood that the exemplary embodiments thereof are illustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

Claims (4)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1 An apparatus for fixing on an elongate object to be clamped a metal clamp band having a closure tag and locking tab members for said tag the apparatus including a tag tilting mechanism comprising a rotatably mounted shaft member extending parallel with the axis of said object, an arm member fixed on said shaft member and serving to tilt the tag, and means for rotating said shaft member, and a locking tab bending mechanism comprising first piston-incylinder actuator means installed radially of said object and serving to bend the locking tabs over the tilted tab, and second pistonin-cylinder actuator means for pressing the thus bent locking tabs by the front ends of closed jaws so as to completely cover the tag with the locking tab members.

2 An apparatus for fixing a metal clamp as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said locking tab bending mechanism comprises a doubleacting piston for the first cylinder means integrally formed with a downwardly extending shaft, a single acting piston for the second cylinder means having a throughhole and a pair of jaws at the lower end, a spring member urging said pair of jaws to space their front ends away from each other, and a floating member comprising a shaft and a cone therebelow, said shaft of said double-acting piston and said shaft of said floating member being inserted in the through-hole of the single-acting piston, said cone of said floating member being interposed between the upper ends of the pair of jaws, the arrangement being such that the double-acting piston moves until it abuts against the head of the single-acting piston, thereby closing the front ends of the jaws through the floating member so as to bend the locking tabs, and the further movement of the double-acting piston subsequent to said step abutting said head lowers the single-acting piston so as to completely cover the tag with said bent locking tabs by the front ends of the pair of closed jaws.

3 An apparatus for fixing a metal clamp band as set forth in Claim 1, wherein the front ends of the pair of jaws are shaped arcuate so as to entend along the outer shape of the metal clamp band when they are closed.

4 An apparatus for fixing on an elongate object to be clamped a metal clamp band having closure tag and locking tabs comprising a support mechanism for rotatably supporting the opposite ends of the object having a non-clamped metal clamp band mounted thereon and for axially positioning the same, a locking tab positioning mechanism for establishing the relative positional relation between the locking tabs of the metal clamp band and a locking tab bending mechanism, and a tag tilting mechanism comprising a shaft member rotatably supported and extending parallel with the axis of said object, an arm member fixed on said shaft member for tilting the tab, and means for rotating said shaft member, said locking tab bending mechanism comprising first cylinder means installed radially of said object and having jaws for bending the locking tabs over the tilted tag, and a second cylinder means for pressing said bent locking tabs members onto the tag by the closed jaws so as to completely cover the tag with the locking tabs.

An apparatus for fixing to an elongate object a metal clamp band, substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to, and as shown in, Figures 1 to 11 of the accompanying drawings.

Agent for the Applicant, REGINALD W BARKER & CO, Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Croydon Printing Company Limited, Croydon, Surrey, 1980.

Published by The Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC 2 A l AY, from which copies may be obtained.